Improved portable book-case



N. PETERS, PNQfO-LITNOGRAPNER. WASHINGTON, D. C.

v,UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

EZBA HASKELL, OF CANTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEDl PORTABLE BOOK-CASE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,752, dated February 24, 1863.

To all whom it mag/concern:

Be it known that I, EZRA HAsKELL, of Ganton, in the county of Norfolk and State of 'Massachusetts have invented an Improved Portable BookCase, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, referpicking; Figs. 4 and 5, two of the shelves,

detached from the side pieces; Fig. 6, a box for packing the books, formed of two of the shelves placed together and secured by screws.

Persons who have occasion to remove their library of books find the ordinary book-case a cumbersome piece of furniture to move, in addition to which the books which have been taken from the shelves of the bookcase must be packed and transported separately.

The object of my present invention is to obviatein ameasure this difficulty; andit consists in a portable bookcase, which may be readily taken down or' set up, and portions of which form boxes in which the books may be packed for transportation.

That others skilled in the art may understand and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the said drawings, the side pieces, A and B, of the book-case are hinged at the middle of their length at f, so that they may be folded up, as shown in Fig. 3. They each have a series of dovetail grooves, a, cut across the inner face, in which the shelves C D, 86e., t.

These shelves, two of which are shown detached in Figs. 4 and 5, are formed of a board, b, on which the books rest, and which is dove tailed on its ends to it the grooves a, and another board, c, attached to it at right angles, which, when the shelf is in position, as shown in Fig. 1, forms part of the back of the bookcase. The shelfD (and each alternate shelf of the series) has at each end a piece, D, which,

when the two adjacent shelves G and D are placed together, as shown in Fig. 6, form the ends of a box in which the books may be packed, thetwo parts being afterward secured by screws e, passing through one board into the edge of the other. The shelves at the lower end of the case are deeper than those above them, to accommodate the larger-sized books, the width of the side pieces A and B being made to accord wit-h them. A single detached board, L, forms the topof the case and is secured in place by screws i.

To give a finish to the bookcase when set up, light moldings h are attached by pins to theedges of the pieces A B L and to the edge of each shelf. These are made in short sections and may be readily removed when the case is to be taken down and be packed in one of the boxes. When the shelves are all in place, the boards c form a continuous back to the case. When the case is to be taken down the piece L is removed and the shelves C D, Src., are withdrawn by slipping them out from the grooves c, the moldings h are removed, when the side pieces A B arefolded up, as shown in Fig. 3, and are packed with the moldings in the larger box formed of the shelves I and K. The books are then packed in the boxes formed ofthe othershelves, which are screwed up, as in Fig. 6, ready for transportation. As the shelves are generally somewhat deeper than the books which they hold are wide, the boxes will usually hold all the books and leave one pare box for packing the pieces A B and the moldings.

The case here shown has eight shelves, which form four boxes, but the form and dimensions may of course be varied.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The series of removable shelves C D, Src., composed of pieces b c d, which, when two shelves are placed together, form a box, as represented in Fig. 6, in combination with the folding sides A B, substantially as described.

EZRA HASKELL. Witnesses:

ELLIS Arms, DANIEL T. V. HUNTOON. 

